Captain's update, 13th July

Mea culpa, I haven't done a squad update in a while but as the below shows, it has been a busy summer! 3 months of intensive regatta racing, brilliant training, and the odd social beer(s) means that time has flown. 

Regatta summary

I won't go through every regatta in detail, but a big shout-out to everyone who has committed to the squad during the summer season. We have progressed leaps and bounds, building on the engines we built during the winter in the gym to excellent improvement on the water in the summer.
The regatta season started with Hammersmith in late April, where we had a 4+ and a 4x- race very competitively, but ultimately both lost to the eventual winners. It was the first regatta for many, and good dusting off the cobwebs for everyone else. We then had a few race at Chiswick in early May, before a great day's racing at Peterborough later in the month - with the Tom/Dom pair reaching the final in a competitive pairs field, ultimately just being outdone at the last hurdle. 

June saw us compete at Walton & Weybridge in a 4x-, before a bumper entry at Barnes and Mortlake where again we were within just feet of winning both the 4+ and the 4x-. Annoying but it showed the progress we had made over the summer. A quick lessons-learnt and on we marched to Kingston....
And Kingston saw us get our first win of the season, in a high-calibre coxless four category - with wins against Maidenhead and UCL/Bentham in the final. A particular well done to Benjy, Jordan and Tom for their first win in Cygent lycra! 

We have one regatta left, Henley Town and Visitors on 2 August. We have a bumper entry across pairs, fours and an eight, and so it represents a great chance to go out with a bang! 

S'camp

A key part of the squad's improvement has been a very successful "S'camp" weekend at the bungalow. Particular thanks to Tom and others who led on organising it - a massive success. I love the bungalow - a great chance to just row (oh, and drink the odd beer...) - but particularly this year where it was a lot of people's first time visiting. We are planning our next trip for early September so please do sign up on Fitclub so we can start organising accordingly! 

Social

It has also been a great period for squad socials - none better than our weekend celebrating 60 years of the relationship with our German partner club, Benrath. The highlight was the Friday at Henley Royal Regatta - our annual social on steroids! Particular thanks to Neil and all others who organised the event - I think it is fair to say everyone enjoyed it! 

OGM

Finally, there is the club OGM on Wednesday 23 July at 8pm after the squad training session. Please do come if you can - we will be taking a vote on buying a new boat (a coxed four) and also be voting in a new captaincy. It has been a pleasure being the Captain of Cygnet for the past 12 months - do let me know if you are interested and want to discuss it in more detail. 

Onwards!

Regatta Crews
Hammersmith Regatta
4+ Clara, Jim A, Tom C, Dom M, Jordan H4x- Benjy H, Theo T, Ollie R, Mustafa O

Chiswick
2x-: Ollie R, Mustafa O

Peterborough
2- Dom M, Tom C

Walton and Weybridge
4x- Charles J, Peter R, Jordan H, Benjy H

Barnes and Mortlake
4+ Clara, Dom M, Tom C, Mickey W, Jordan H4x- Charles J, Ollie R, Peter R, Will P4x- Mustafa O, Octavian P, Alex H, Martin D

Kingston
4x- Charles J, Ollie R, Peter R, Will P4- Dom M, Tom C, Benjy H, Jordan H (Win)